


Listening to the Heart

by LooseScrewsLefty



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, F/M, Lady Wifi Divergence, Multi, love square shenanigans, partial reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 17:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9451307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LooseScrewsLefty/pseuds/LooseScrewsLefty
Summary: "The heart might tell you one thing, but a GOOD superhero always listens to her head!"...Except if she doesn't.





	

Less than a minute left.

Ladybug flinched slightly at the sharp, shrill warning her earrings gave off as her time ticked away, her muscles straining as she pushed onward in a desperate search for shelter. She’d gone to great lengths to keep Hawkmoth and the Akuma from finding out her secret identity today, and she wasn't about to let that hard work go to waste with a public detransformation. 

_Gotta hide gotta hide gotta hide gotta hide…_ Became the heroine’s mental mantra as she and her partner spilled into the hotel’s lobby. Quickly dismissing the idea of going outside (too large of a crowd, and the media had shown up too), she cast a wild glance around her and zoned in on a nearby storage closet, which provided cover and was in the security camera’s blind spot. Ladybug only just managed to stop herself from ripping the door from it’s hinges in her haste to get it open, and was grateful to find that while the interior was small and dimly lit, it was more than roomy enough for her to take cover.

At last, somewhere safe. And with only seconds to spare.

But before she could close the door behind her a clawed glove caught it, which prompted the girl to turn to her partner with a surprised look as her earring beeped again. 

“Stay.” Chat Noir pleaded, a strangely intense look on his face as he let go of the door to raise his claw as if taking an oath. “I won’t tell anyone who you are. Cat’s honor.”

 _He’s still on about this?_ The girl thought, eyebrows drawing together. 

Chat had been oddly concerned about her secret identity all day, to the point of letting it distract him from his job. Ladybug, on the other hand, had been so intent on getting the Akuma cleansed to save the most recent victim that she had only half listened to her partner when he kept pushing the subject, despite the fact that he had never behaved like that before. She even snapped when he kept coming back to their identities again and again instead of keeping his attention on Lady Wifi. Which, now that she thought about it, was odd behavior for her cat. Chat could be silly, and he was a certified show off, but he still took their job of protecting Paris every bit as seriously as she did. As much as he might joke and pun, he NEVER lost sight of their duty.

 _This must be more important to him than I thought._ Ladybug realized with a worried frown. She could sympathize. Chat was her friend—Her partner—and she had lost count of the times she had drifted off thinking of him, wondering where he was and what he was doing right that very moment. Was he in another school, showing off for his classmates like the class clown he undoubtedly was underneath the mask? Dropping cheesy pick up lines for a cute girl until she cracked a smile? Was he goofing off in an arcade, or doing his schoolwork? He’d taken great delight in finding out that he was better than her at physics when she complained about not understanding her homework one night on patrols, so Ladybug didn’t doubt that Chat was more studious then his playful exterior would lead others to believe. 

She could never lie and say that there weren’t days she wished she knew her corny kitten better. And she didn’t want to lie to the boy she trusted with her life. The boy who just risked his life to save her just minutes earlier when she was cornered by Lady Wifi.

Logically, she knew that there were reasons Tikki had asked her to keep her identity a secret from everyone, even Chat. There were risks, BIG risks, to letting him know who she was outside of the mask. Even if he was her partner.

But he was her partner, and—logical or not—if there was anyone she wanted to tell if would be him.

Her miraculous blared out another warning, faster and more frantic this time as her seconds ticked away to nothing. Wincing, Ladybug drew further into the closet, her grip on the door tightening as she prepared to close it behind her as want and reason warred with one another in her mind. The hurt and sadness flashed in Chat’s big green eyes as she withdrew tipped the balance and, before she had time to doubt what she was about to do, Ladybug reacted. 

In other circumstances, the startled yowl Chat gave when Ladybug’s free hand shot out to grab his bell and literally tossing him into the small enclosure before slamming the door shut behind them would have been comical. But as her transformation gave away in a blinding flash of pink, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had other things on her mind then her her partner’s feline habits.

Her kwami, for example. 

Marinette’s hands automatically cupped to catch the exhausted Tikki, smiling sheepishly at the small immortal’s look of wide-eyed alarm. She’d definitely be getting a lecture for this later, no doubt about that. Deciding that that was future-Marinette’s problem and present-Marinette had more pressing matters to deal with than the ire of a God, Marinette turned her attention to Chat, who was sitting sprawled on his tailbone and half buried under cleaning products since Ladybug had misjudged her strength in her haste to get the two of them out of sight.  
  
…Whoopsie.  
  
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to chuck you like that.” She apologized to the stunned boy sheepishly. “And you don’t have to tell me my identity would be safe with you. There’s no one I’d trust more to watch my back, you dorky cat.” Crouching down, Marinette offered a hand to the cat to shake, smiling at his dumbstruck look. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And it’s nice to meet you again, Chat Noir.”  
  
“I… um… likewise?” Chat Noir stammered, going brilliantly pink and cringing as his words failed him. Marinette giggled slightly, bouncing back to her feet.  
  
“What’s matter, Cat got your tongue?” She teased with a playful wink, grinning as Chat began to resemble a blond, cat eared fire hydrant.  
  
“Marinette.” Tikki urged, frowning worriedly at her charge. The aspiring designer’s mirth wilted at the look Tikki gave her, disappointment and worry bright in the kwami’s big blue eyes.

“Guess I’d better go feed my kwami.” Marinette told her partner with an apologetic smile. “I’ll see you later though, okay Chat?”  
  
“Yeah! Later! Definitely! You’ll be seeing me!” Chat babbled out before giving a weak laugh. Sparing him one last grin, Marinette cracked the door to the closet open and peeked around before creeping out, shutting the door gently behind her as she slipped into the hotel lobby.  
  
And Chat Noir spent a full minute sitting on the closet floor before his transformation gave out, leaving a frazzled teen model with a cackling kwami and a lot of thoughts to try and process.  
  
“Well THAT was unexpected!” Plagg said with barely restrained glee. “It’s rare for one of Tikki’s chosens to be the one to break the rules. Usually, that’s my kid’s job.” Turning back to the stunned blond, the cat kwami’s expression took on a look of almost feral amusement. “What’s the matter, kid? I thought you wanted to know who your Lady Love was under her mask~?”  
  
“Lady…” Adrien repeated, blinking a few times before his eyes went wide in shock. “Ladybug! She’s… Plagg! Marinette is Ladybug!”  
  
“I dunno kid, I still think there’s a good chance it could be Chloe.” Plagg teased, humming thoughtfully as he stroked his chin. “I mean, can you really be absolutely SURE it’s her? Maybe you should do a DNA test or something. Just to be on the safe side, you know?” Plagg had to swallow back a laugh at how red Adrien turned at that, obviously mortified at having seriously suspected that his partner was his childhood friend.

“Did you know about this?” Adrien asked suspiciously, scowling at his kwami as Plagg rummaged through his pocket for a spare piece of cheese.  
  
“That your love bug was literally sitting right behind you the whole time, and you never had a clue?” Plagg clarified casually as he took a bite, ignoring Adrien’s grimace at his lack of manners. “Nope. Kwami can sense one another, but only when our powers are actually being used. If we’re sealed within our Miraculouses without a Chosen, or outside of the Miraculouses because you guys aren’t transformed, then we can’t sense anything. It’s a safety thing, in case one of us falls in the wrong hands. That way, we don’t end up ratting out the others.”   
  
That was doubly true in the case of him an Tikki, given how devastating it could be if their Miraculouses were combined and the power abused, which was clearly what Hawkmoth was after. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t gotten around to sharing that little detail with Adrien, and he wasn’t inclined to change that any time soon. Adrien was a good kid, but there were some powers that should never be trifled with, and Plagg and Tikki had figured out long ago that the worst damages sometimes came from those with the best intentions.  
  
Ignorance and bliss and all that jazz.  
  
“I can’t believe she was so close the entire time…” Adrien said, somewhat dazed. From the look of him, he hadn’t even paid a minute of attention to Plagg’s little Kwami-dar explanation.  
  
_Kids these days._ Plagg thought, rolling his eyes. _I blame technology._  
  
“Well good for you, kid.” Plagg said flatly. “Now you can tell all your gross lovey-dovey stuff to her and leave me out of it.” 

"Hey, yeah!” Adrien said excitedly, jumping to his feet and sending cleaning supplies every which way. “I see her every day at school! I can talk to her! I--!” A thought suddenly dawned on Adrien and his smile fell away. Alarmed at the sudden mood change, Plagg stopped eating to shoot his wielder a concerned look.

“Something the matter, kid?” He asked cautiously.

“…Marinette doesn’t talk to me.” Adrien reminded Plagg, frowning worriedly. “She always acts so strange whenever she sees me. I’m pretty sure I make her uncomfortable.” 

“…And?” Plagg prompted impatiently.

“And I can’t exactly talk to her if she isn’t comfortable being around me, can I?” Adrien pointed out, looking surprisingly morose for someone who had literally jumped for joy a few seconds earlier.

“Sure you can.” Plagg snorted. “Just don’t expect much conversation in return.”

“What if I’m bothering her? What if she gets mad at me if I push too much and starts hating me again? What if she starts treating Chat differently once she finds out that the guy under the mask is Adrien Agreste?”

“Kinda like how you’re freaking out over a girl you’ve only spoken to a handful of times all of a sudden?” Snarked the kwami with an unimpressed look. “Just talk to her. Get her comfortable with you. Sure, she does that whole word vomit thing every time you come around, but it’s not like she runs away screaming or something. That’s when you gotta worry, kid.”

“You really think that’s all it’ll take?” Adrien asked anxiously, looking at his kwami with the biggest, greenest kitten eyes that the immortal had ever seen.

Plagg tried to tell himself the stirring he felt was the cheese disagreeing with his stomach, NOT because of the face Adrien was giving him.

“Kid, trust me.” He said dryly, thinking back to all of Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s interactions with his charge and how she barely tried to hide the fact that she had the biggest crush imaginable on Adrien (seriously, it was a surprise she managed to keep her identity secret as long as she had. Girl was an open book). “She’s gonna be thrilled when you talk to her. A lot happier then she’ll be after Tikki gets ahold of her for blowing her secret identity, at any rate.”

“Her kwami? You really think she’ll be that upset about it?” Adrien asked worriedly, frowning as he remembered the small sprite Marinette had cradled in her hands after her transformation fell away.

“Take it from someone who’s known her for eons.” Plagg responded with a bemused look. “Right now, your little lady’s going to be getting an earful.”

\---

There was something almost impressive about a being that could fit in the palm of your hand being able to make it feel as though you were the one who was only two inches tall with just a look. And by impressive, what Marinette actually meant was absolutely, gut wrenchingly stressful.   
  
It probably didn’t help that she never handled disappointing others very well. Marinette just couldn’t help being a people-pleaser by nature. It was just so satisfying to see the people she cared about happy, and to know that she helped make them feel that way. So, on the flip side, when someone was upset and it was her fault, Marinette felt miserably guilty.

“I’m sorry.” She said, probably for the hundredth time since they returned to her house and got safely locked away in her room. Tikki gave a quiet sigh in response. “I know you said we’re not supposed to tell anybody, but… it was Chat Noir, Tikki. He’s my partner, and he knows how to keep a secret, and… and it just seems so important to him all of a sudden!”

“Him wanting to know isn’t worth the risks that come with revealing yourself to him, Marinette.” Tikki reminded her, disappointment still heavy in her soft voice.

“I know. But… I wanted him to know me too, Tikki.” Marinette confessed. “I know that being Ladybug is important, more than being Marinette could ever be, but I couldn’t be there for Alya today when she needed me, and she was akumatized. I don’t want to put walls between me and my friends anymore. I don’t want them to ever think that they aren’t the most important thing in the world to me, even if that means putting myself at risk. I know I can’t tell anyone else, not Alya or my parents or anyone, but I trust Chat. And if anyone deserves to know who Ladybug is under the mask, it’s him.”

“Marinette…” Tikki murmured, her frown deepening. The teenager flinched and turned away from her kwami, stomach churning with nerves. She wasn’t going to lose her miraculous over this, was she? Despite her rocky start (Rocky start. Oh dear lord, she was spending WAY too much time around Chat if she was making puns like that) she’d come to enjoy being a superhero, and had gained confidence and freedom with her earrings she never knew she desperately needed. And more importantly, Tikki was her friend and mentor, and she couldn’t bare the idea of being rejected by the kwami because she couldn’t obey what Tikki had stressed from the beginning was the most important rule. 

Something soft, warm, and featherlight touched Marinette’s hand, but the girl just shrunk in on herself, afraid to look back at Tikki and the disappointment that had been in her eyes. 

“Marinette.” Tikki pressed, sounding as though she was asking a question and issuing a command at the same time. Reluctantly, Marinette turned back to her Kwami with a cautious look, surprised to find Tikki smiling up at her sadly. “I understand that you are under a lot of pressure because of me and the miraculous, Marinette. You make a lot of sacrifices a girl your age shouldn’t have to, and I forget sometimes that responsibilities like that can feel too heavy to carry on your own. And I’m not angry with you for wanting to tell Chat Noir who you are, to be closer to him. But I am afraid, Marinette. 

“I know you trust Chat, and so do I. But the fact is that even one person knowing your real identity- even if he is your partner- will put you at risk. I’ve lost Ladybugs before who were too trusting, who let their guard down. Sometimes they’re betrayed by the ones they thought they could trust. Sometimes, they betray themselves, relaxing their guard just a little too much which the enemy takes advantage of. 

“I can’t protect you if you’re not wearing the suit, and humans…” Tikki paused to swallow, looking pained. “…Humans are strong, but fragile. I don’t want to see you break.” 

Marinette couldn’t think of anything to say in response to that. 

Thanks to the Pharaoh and the Ancient Egypt exhibit at the museum, she had recently found out that Tikki was much older than she appeared. Despite sharing that fact with her, though, the Kwami hadn’t been all that forthcoming about her long and fascinating past, waving off all of Marinette’s curiosity on the subject. And since it seemed like something Tikki wasn’t ready to share with her, Marinette had let the subject drop and all but forgot about it until that moment, when Tikki sat there with a look in her eyes as old as she admitted to being. 

Biting her lip, Marinette gently scooped Tikki into her hand and cradled her close to her chest, smiling down at the kwami as she rested her head against Marinette’s shirt.

“I won’t break, Tikki.” Marinette promised. “I have Chat Noir, and you, and my parents, and Alya. I might be fragile by myself, but with you guys in my corner, I’m indestructible.” Tikki relaxed minutely at that claim, a small smile on her face.

“If only that were true…” Tikki sighed, closing her eyes to feel the gentle warmth of her chosen’s form close to her own while trying not to think of all the ones she had sat with long after they had gone cold. 

“It is.” Marinette insisted. “Before you came into my life, I was so uncertain and afraid. I was lonely, and I didn’t fight back when Chloe was being a bully… You’ve made me stronger, Tikki. You’ve shown me that even without the suit, there’s so much I can do. That I can stand up for myself and my friends, and that I’m stronger and more capable than I gave myself credit for. And I’m so, so grateful to you for that. Which is why I want to make you a promise.” 

“A… a promise?” Tikki repeated, confused and curious as she gazed up at her Chosen’s smile. Marinette gave a nod, her pigtails bobbing at the motion. 

“I promise that as long as you keep believing in me, I’ll keep being strong.” She told the Kwami in an unwavering voice. “I know I messed up, and I should have played it safe instead of revealing myself like that, but I have faith. In Chat Noir, and in you. You can protect me Tikki, and I’ll protect you. I’ll be strong and won’t let Hawkmoth take you away from me. Whatever comes our way, Tikki, you and I will face it together.” 

Tikki felt her heart stir at her Chosen’s words, and smiled in response. Marinette was always surprising her, always growing in unexpected and profound ways and showing wisdom beyond her years. Like earlier that day, when she made it clear that she was determined not to fight her best friend, but to save her. 

Tikki felt grateful to have come into possession of such a warm and loving girl. 

“That’s a lovely promise, Marinette.” She told her, grinning up at the girl in gratitude. “Thank you for that. I’m still not comfortable with the idea of Chat knowing your identity, but I will always protect you to the best of my abilities. That is my promise to you.” 

“So it’s a deal, then?” Marinette asked hopefully. 

“Of course it is.” Tikki agreed with a giggle.

“Aaaand I’m not in trouble for dropping the mask in front of Chat?”

“Oh, I never said that.” Tikki responded slyly. “You DID break the rules, after all, and that means you have to face your punishment.” Tikki’s smile grew as the color drained from Marinette’s face. 

“Punishment?” She repeated anxiously, eyebrows drawing together in worry. “…what KIND of punishment, exactly?” 

The evil smile Tikki gave her in response to that question sent chills down Marinette’s spine. 


End file.
